Thrall
by Kumogata
Summary: There are those who never ask to get bitten - then there are those who beg for it. AkuRoku vampire fic. Rating for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts. Not even a copy of KH2! Someone stood on my copy! How rude of them!

But anyway. Warnings! Not many - just mentions of guy on guy, a little blood, nothing too gory. Rating's just for safety. All uses of the words 'kid' and 'boy' are purely Axel being a jerk-wad. Roxas is intended to be of age by this point - 18 and in his last year of school.

* * *

There are those people who never ask to get bitten – the ones who get drained and killed without being turned. Then there are those lucky enough to survive the transformation. Then there are those who offer themselves up in exchange for freedom – for them or for family.

Then there are those who seek it out for fun – for the thrill, for the rush, for the pleasure that floods into their system in exchange for blood.

He never thought he'd be one of them.

xxx

"Has anyone seen Riku recently?" Naminé asked, clutching her textbooks closer to her chest. They'd just gotten out of school – Naminé, Roxas, Hayner, Pence, Kairi and Selphie – and were heading through the park.

"He's been ill a lot recently, hasn't he?" Roxas noted. "Maybe he's upset about Sora or something."

Naminé nodded slightly. "How is he?" she asked as they dropped their bags to the ground at the base of a tree. They sat in a loose circle together, all picking a spot where the dappled sunlight fell on them best.

A brief shiver up the back of his neck had Roxas turning suddenly to look behind him – he felt like he was being watched. He turned back to his friends and shrugged. "He's alright. He's a little bummed that he can't go out in the sun for very long, though."

"I went to visit the other day," Kairi told Selphie and Naminé. "He has the cutest little fangs in the world! They're so adorable!"

Hayner pulled a face suddenly. "There's nothing adorable about a bloodsucker, Kairi," he told her.

Kairi scoffed slightly, before she turned back to the other girls and told them, in more detail, about Sora's adorable fangs.

Sora had been bitten one night while he had been out late – he'd missed the last bus home from Riku's, and had assumed it would be safe to walk home by himself. Big mistake. He had been found unconscious the next morning by a dog walker, with puncture wounds on his neck and slowly fading pulse. He'd been taken to the hospital, where he'd 'died' and eventually revived.

Roxas was just glad that their hospital was capable of dealing with such things.

"Roxas, are you okay?"

He looked up to see Naminé peering over at him, her brows slightly drawn together.

"I'm fine, Nami. Why?"

Naminé's expression softened, and she shook her head. "You've been distracted all day, Roxas. Like in class, you kept looking over to the windows and stuff. And at lunch, you stopped right in the middle of what you were saying to me. I'm just a bit worried," she told him.

"I'm fine. I just keep feeling like I'm being watched or something."

Naminé nodded briefly, and they both looked away from each other.

"Maybe we should go and check on Riku," Kairi said eventually, breaking through the silence that had descended on them. "You know, make sure he's okay?"

They all nodded. "We should get going then," Pence said, getting to his feet. "His house is pretty far away from here, and it'll be getting dark in a few hours."

"Okay."

xxx

"Riku, you look terrible!"

Riku shot her an icy glare, his eyes slightly filmy and dazed looking. "Thanks, Kairi," he growled.

Roxas had to admit that he did. His usually impeccable silver hair was a mess, and his face was pale and sweaty. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, but he was still shivering.

"Have you got the flu or anything? I hope it's not contagious!" Selphie cried, backing away from the open door.

"I'm fine," he told them, before he turned back into the house, leaving the door open for them to follow him inside. "I'm just a bit under the weather."

For a moment, Roxas and Kairi exchanged a worried look. Riku was always the first to admit he was feeling ill, so this was a real shock to both of them – who'd known him since they were kids.

"Anyway," Roxas said as they all filtered into the living room and sat on the sofa and the floor. Riku himself was curled up in his blanket in the armchair in the corner of the room, another duvet lying at his feet. "Have you spoken to Sora at all? You know he worries about you."

Riku shivered and pulled the blanket up to his nose, his mouth and chin completely covered up. "I called him earlier and we talked for a bit. He still doesn't remember anything about what happened that night."

"I read that in a book once," Pence said, looking down thoughtfully. "There's something about a vampire's bite that makes you forget what happens. Makes it less traumatic or something. And they have all sorts of tricks and magic that can make you change your mind about stuff."

There was a muffled hum from Riku, who had buried the whole of his face in his blankets, only the top of his head visible above it.

"But are you sure you're okay, Riku?" Kairi asked, wriggling across the floor to her blanket-encased friend. "You look really sick."

The blankets shifted, and one aquamarine eye found her. "I'm fine, Kai. Don't worry about me." He pushed the blankets down the rest of the way until they were settled around his shoulders again. "You should get going. It's sunset in an hour."

"Okay," Kairi murmured, getting to her feet. "If you need anything, just call one of us, okay?"

"I will," he told her.

xxx

The walk home shouldn't have taken too long, but Roxas had gotten distracted by Pence's immense knowledge about vampires, and had walked almost all the way to his house before either of them realised that his own home was in the opposite direction.

"Will you make it before sundown?" Pence asked, looking up at the reddening sky. "You can stay here if you want."

"Nah, I'll run. I'll make it back in time," he said, smiling at his friend.

"Okay, if you're sure," Pence told him. "But if you get bitten, I'm so gonna say I told you so."

"I think I can live with that," Roxas told him, before he turned back the way he had come, setting off at a jog.

He was about halfway home – his heart thudding in his ears, his throat stinging slightly with every breath – when he heard it first. His name, carried on the wind, so light he barely heard it. He shrugged it off the first time, but the second time it was more insistent, closer than it had been before.

"Who's there?" he called, turning to look around him. He was halfway across a deserted street, standing in the waning sunlight. Not much protection from a vampire.

He heard his name once more, as if from very far away, and he turned to look down a side street, one shrouded in darkness and the stench of dampness. Something flashed at the end of the alleyway, and he took a step forwards, almost unconsciously. Something tugged anxiously at the edge of his awareness.

"No," he said out loud, firmly. "I've got to get home."

"Roxas." It was louder this time, definitely coming from alleyway.

'I've got to get home,' he told himself firmly. 'I can't stand around and wait for the sun to go down like this.' And yet there was another voice, one that was more authoritative and commanding, telling him to just walk over, into the shadows. To surrender. To submit.

He felt tired – not exhausted, can't-stand-up-any-more tired, but tired in a way that promised a long, relaxing nap and lovely dreams. A sort of tired that dimmed the world away from him, making everything ever so slightly out of reach and dream like itself.

"Come on, Roxas," it murmured. He. The voice was definitely male, Roxas realised. And for some reason this made it better – easier for him to ignore the rapidly quietening voice in his head that was telling him to turn around and carry on home. "Come stand with me."

He took a few more steps forwards before he stopped suddenly again, the little voice telling him to get the hell out of there growing louder briefly.

"I've got to go home," he murmured. "I need to get back before sunset."

"No you don't," the voice in the alley murmured, and the fighting voice in Roxas' head was extinguished. "Come on."

He nodded, and took a few more steps forward, until he was just a step away from the shadows. A pair of green, almost glowing eyes grew closer, and he found himself looking up into the face of a tall, slender man with vividly red hair and piercing eyes – eyes which caught his own, and after a moment of gazing up at him he found himself unable to look away. One moment more and he found he didn't want to. Instead, he was perfectly content to carry on gazing into the eyes of his stranger, all thoughts quiet and unnoticed. The taller man had a rather fox-like face, and a wide grin stretched across it, the strange, upside down triangles on his cheeks distorted.

Roxas could hear a familiar ringing sound, incessant and annoying, but he didn't dare look away. The stranger laughed softly and reached forwards, into Roxas' coat pocket, and pulled out his phone, which buzzed impatiently in his hand. Roxas' eyes never left his face.

He flicked it open and held it to Roxas' ear.

"Roxas?" said the phone. Not the phone – his mother on the other end. "Roxas, are you there?"

"Mum," he murmured quietly, his mind increasingly foggy and subdued.

"Roxas! Where are you? Can you hear me? It's almost sundown," she called. She said something else, but Roxas didn't catch it as the red haired stranger pulled the phone away from his ear, snapped it shut and threw it away.

"Don't you look lovely, all quiet and complacent," the man murmured. Roxas nodded absently, his gaze having fallen from the man's eyes to his lips, tracking their every move.

A brief, tiny spike of terror ran through him as he noticed elongated canines, flashing in the almost absent light. Vampire. He was going to get bitten.

He gasped suddenly, taking a step back, panic and fear coursing through his veins suddenly. Vampire! He was going to get bitten – killed and reanimated to do the same. He didn't want to die. He had to get out of there. If only his body were listening to his mind – he wanted to run, to shout for help, to do _something_, but the connection between his mind and his body was dampened, and all he could do was take a few, futile steps backwards.

"Roxas," the man said again, and Roxas inadvertently looked up into his face. His eyes. The world stilled around him, and all that panic, fear, confusion vanished, replaced with nothing but calmness and peace. "Come here."

He walked forwards without any resistance, and when he did a wave of happiness spread through him, the voice of reason and common sense and self-preservation vanishing entirely as it did so. He sighed happily as he stepped into the shadows and let the red haired man wrap his arms around his shoulders.

The vampire was surprisingly warm – Roxas could feel them through his t-shirt and coat, and it only served to intensify the calmness that moved through him.

"Come, Roxas. Let's go inside."

xxx

Jackpot, Axel thought to himself as the kid looked up at him properly for the first time. He'd been gently calling to the kid for a while now; for the past few days while he was at school, Axel would use his 'charm' – the name all the big scientists studying vampires used for their ability to subdue their prey – on the kid, which had him fidgeting like a sinner in church and turning to glare in entirely the wrong direction.

He looked incredible, standing there in the dying light, swaying slightly. His eyes were half closed and vacant, but they carefully tracked Axel as he moved towards him ever so slightly.

A brief, annoying ringing sound filled the alley, and Axel's eyes widened. The kid's phone. He hoped he didn't look as shocked as he felt, but instead reached over to him and gently pulled out the phone from his pocket, desperately trying not to break him out of his trance.

The kid's eyes followed his movements smoothly, without any real effort. All of the tension the kid had been carrying in his shoulders was gone, and his face was lax. He was deep.

Axel flicked the phone open, noting for a brief, amused moment the word "Mum" on the screen, before he held it up to Roxas' ear. The red haired vampire listened to the kid murmur something, and his mother's increasingly desperate shouts. The kid didn't even move, his eyes still fixed on Axel's. He had him.

Axel pulled the phone away, before snapping it shut and tossing it behind him. He heard it hit the wall and fall to the floor with a clatter.

"Don't you look lovely, all quiet and complacent," he drawled, and the kid's gaze drifted down to his lips.

For a moment, he blinked at him, his eyes still heavy and tired, before he focused on something. He blinked a few more times before his gaze hardened and he took a step back, his stance solidifying again.

Axel kept from rolling his eyes, and instead sought out the kid's gaze – all he had to do was to get him to look back into his eyes and it'd be over. All resistance, gone.

"Roxas," he said. He used a tone that all vampires possessed, but that would only work on a thrall – one of command and authority. Sure enough, the kid looked right up at him. "Come here"

His gaze clouded over and his face became serene and vacant once again. That was it – the reward for obeying the voice of command from a vampire was, apparently, pleasure. That's why it worked so effectively time after time.

Roxas walked forwards, and buried himself in Axel's arms. The tall vampire wrapped his arms around his victim and chuckled softly to himself. He inhaled deeply from the kid's hair and sighed. The scent of the kid sang through him.

"Come on, Roxas. Let's go inside," he said, before he led the kid into the alleyway, and towards the den.

"I'm back," he called as he pushed the door open. The room was well furnished – three sofas and a few large armchairs. There were also a few beanbags and cushions and quilts around the room – all intended to make their human companions feel more relaxed and at home.

"About time," Zexion grumbled. "You've been gone for 4 days. He better be worth it."

Axel looked over at him and saw that he had his current conquest, a loud blond boy named Demyx, curled up on his lap, two fresh but rapidly healing puncture wounds on his wrist, and the same on his thigh. He had volunteered for it.

"Isn't he pretty?" Axel chirruped happily, looking back at his thrall, who was gazing off into the middle distance, swaying gently. His mind would no doubt be swimming in a sea of happiness and pleasure. "I bet he tastes delicious."

"I have to admit," Zexion said, pushing Demyx off as he got to his feet. The blond squawked indignantly but didn't react much beyond that – instead he just rolled over and went back to sleep. "He smells divine. Not the same as my one, but still."

"Come on, Roxas," Axel said, leading the dazed boy through the room and towards a long, low sofa, letting him sink into the cushions, loose and relaxed. "Good," he purred. The kid murmured something appreciatively. "Close your eyes."

The kid did so and Axel reached out and touched his face gently, then ran his hand down Roxas' neck, feeling his pulse peak suddenly, then continued down his chest, watching as he arched up against his hand.

"He's so ready," Zexion murmured as he settled himself back on the sofa, pulling Demyx's arm up – the blond followed quickly, waking up slightly as he clambered back up next to the vampire. "Just do it."

Axel glared over at him before he ran his hand back up Roxas' torso, then down his left arm. He pushed the kid's sleeve up and leaned in to kiss the crook of his arm. The kid gasped appreciatively.

"Go away Zexion," he mumbled.

The slate-haired boy growled something obscene before he easily picked Demyx up, threw him over his shoulder and headed for the door. The blond in his arms giggled happily, causing the vampire to roll his eyes.

"Just relax, Roxas," Axel murmured as his breath ghosted over the teen's arm. After a moment, he opened his mouth and gently sank his long, sharp canines into the soft flesh of Roxas' arm, delighting in the moan, first of pain but rapidly turning into a cry of pleasure, that spilled from the blond boy's lips.

Blood welled up around his teeth, most of it spilling onto his tongue. The warmth of it burned against his skin as some escaped out of the seal formed by his lips and down the side of his chin.

It was delicious. Better than any he'd ever had before, as far as he could remember. And he could tell by the moans and the rapid breathing and the way the kid was _moving, _he was enjoying it even more. A good few mouthfuls of blood trickled down his throat before he decided it was enough.

He sat up, his teeth sliding out of the wound in Roxas' arm easily, and he licked the blood that welled from the wound carefully away, keeping a tight hold in his self-restraint so as he didn't succumb to the animalistic voice in the back of his head that begged him to drink the human dry and be done with it.

'No,' he told it. 'If I keep him alive, I'll have more for later.'

That quietened the nagging voice, and he turned his attention back to the teen, gently licking the blood away before it dried on the kid's skin.

xxx

"Roxas."

He opened his eyes slowly, dazed and not quite awake for a moment.

"Roxas!" Someone grabbed his arms and he came entirely awake suddenly, finding himself face to face with his recently turned brother. Outside. At night.

"Sora," he said eventually, watching as his brother sighed in relief. "What's wrong?"

"Shit, Rox, where have you been?" he barked, before he dragged his brother back over to the house – they had been standing about 10 feet away from the front gate. "It's almost midnight. Mum's been going mad for ages. She said she called you earlier but she couldn't get through. Pence said you left his a half hour before sundown as well. What happened to you?"

Roxas blinked at him again for a few moments. "I dunno," he said eventually. Sora had dragged him all the way into the living room and sat him down on one of the armchairs, none too gently. "Why?"

"Shit, Rox! There's blood all over your shirt!" Sora shouted, pulling his jacket aside to get a good look at the bloodstain. He frantically pulled up his younger brother's shirt, and when he saw there was no wound he pulled his brother's jacket off. Roxas let his brother strip his jacket off – his head felt like it was full of cotton wool, in a good way. Sora grabbed his arms and pulled them out, inspecting both of them carefully.

"You were bitten!"

"Really? Wow," Roxas murmured, looking down at his arm. There were two puncture wounds on his arm – neither looked new, but instead looked at least a few days old. "Doesn't hurt," he said as Sora poked at it.

Instead of the dull pain of pressing on a wound, he instead felt a strange chill pass over him, and he shuddered involuntarily.

"Roxas," their mother shouted, and both boys looked over to the door to the hallway where the stood, silhouetted by the light behind her. "Sweetheart! What happened to you? We were worried sick!"

"He's been bitten, Mum," Sora told her as he ran his fingers over the wound again. His brother shuddered again.

"What?" she gasped, and stepped closer, reaching out for Roxas' arm. He let her take it and instead contented himself with gazing up at the ceiling while his mother ran her fingers across his arm. "Darling, how did this happen?"

When he realised that she was addressing him, Roxas looked over at her and shrugged.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked Sora, who was gazing at his brother in shock, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

"He's been chosen by a vampire," he said slowly, before he poked Roxas in the face. The blond's hand came up slowly to brush Sora's away, before dropping back to his side.

"And what does that mean?"

"Whoever this vampire is, he'll have drunk Roxas' blood without killing him because he likes the way it tastes. And he'll have used some…powers to convince him it's a good idea."

"Like what, exactly?" she asked, her face stern all of a sudden.

"Like a charm, or a thrall, something like that." Sora scowled. "All we can do now is let it wear off. Keep him in sight until he's back to normal again, so the vampire can't get at him."

"Alright. Could you watch him tonight then?"

xxx

"Come on, Roxas. I don't wanna have to carry you up the stairs," Sora grumbled as he dragged his little brother up towards his bedroom.

"I want to go back," he mumbled, trying weakly to pull away from his brother. "He's waiting for me."

"It's okay, Roxas. You can go back when you've had some rest, okay?"

He considered it for a moment before he decided that it was a fair deal. "Okay."

"What's his name?"

"Axel," Roxas purred, rubbing his hand absently over the bite wounds on his arm. "He's amazing."

Sora laughed softly. "That's the charm talking. He just made you think he's amazing."

"No, he really is," Roxas mumbled as they reached the top of the stairs and Sora steered him towards his room. "He was nice to me. And he made sure I didn't hurt. Made sure I was okay."

Sora sat his brother down on the bed and pulled off his shoes one by one as the blond lay down across the bed.

"Made me feel amazing."

Sora watched as his little brother wriggled around on the bed for a bit, before he lay still and sighed. "Night, Roxas."

"Night."

xxx

"What the HELL happened last night?" he screeched.

"Rox, calm down," Sora said soothingly, holding up his hand to stop the other teen from walking straight into him.

"I will NOT calm down! I can't remember anything past lunch yesterday and I have bite marks on my arm. Bite marks, Sora! Was I someone's dinner yesterday or am I just imagining things?"

"Roxas, you need to calm down," Sora shouted back, watching as his brother growled in frustration and dropped down on the edge of the bed. "We have no idea what really happened yesterday, to be honest. I found you in the middle of the street just after midnight last night, and you were really out of it. Some vampire got to you in a major way."

Roxas carried on glaring at him, his crystalline blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You said his name was Axel," Sora told him.

And like that, Roxas remembered – going to Riku's after school, getting caught out late, the voice. Not wanting to leave – wanting to stay there forever just to feel like that, so relaxed and content. Then the bite – the sting of pain followed by a surge of pleasure so intense he'd passed out. Walking home behind the red haired vampire and waiting until Sora came and found him.

He groaned and flopped down onto his side.

"I can't believe it actually happened," he mumbled into his pillow. "I can't believe I let myself fall for such a stupid trick."

"You didn't fall for anything, Roxas," Sora told him seriously. "It's a powerful tool if it's used right."

"No, that's not what I mean," Roxas grumbled. "I think I almost managed to get away, but he said my name and I looked at him and he had me again. Damn," he hissed. "Why did he have to be so attractive?"

Sora snorted with laughter until Roxas threw a pillow at him.

xxx

_"I promise it won't hurt," he murmured, leaning in to kiss the curve of his neck gently. Roxas gasped slightly as the vampire's sharp teeth dragged against his skin, but then sighed as they were taken away just as quickly. _

_"Why are you doing this to me?" he mumbled. He was back on the couch in the vampire's 'lair', the same feelings he vaguely remembered from the 'charm' washing over him in waves. He sighed again, and leaned back in the chair, his eyes barely open. _

_"Because you're yummy," Axel purred as he kissed the other side of Roxas' neck. "And you're cute. And your brain's like putty so I can do whatever I want."_

_"Not whatever you want," Roxas groused, raising one hand to push against Axel's chest, trying to open his eyes a little further. "Get off of me."_

_Axel laughed quietly, before he placed a long, skinny finger in the middle of Roxas' forehead and pushed him back down. The kid dropped back onto the couch with no resistance, his eyes closing fully again. _

_"See?" Axel said. _

_"I don't wanna go anyway," Roxas mumbled. Axel leaned in and kissed right under his chin and the blond gasped. "I wanna stay here."_

_"Will you let me bite you?"_

_"No," Roxas growled – as best he could. "I don't want to be a vampire."_

_"Kid, I don't wanna make you into one of us," Axel told him as he kissed Roxas' collarbone – his shirt was gone and he couldn't remember taking it off. "You're too delicious right now to turn. Maybe in a few years, but not right now. Right now, I just want a snack."_

_"No," Roxas said again. "I don't want you to bite me."_

_Axel leaned down and ran the tip of his tongue over the mostly healed bite marks on his thrall's arm, grinning slightly at the sudden gasp that tore it's way out of the kid. _

_"Oh god," Roxas murmured, the sudden jolt of pleasure having ripped right through him, his resistance to being bitten waning. Being bitten was the worst thing that could happen, as far as the general public were concerned. 'But why,' he thought to himself, 'when it feels this incredible?' He opened his eyes and looked down at the vampire, who seemed entirely concentrated on not touching his arm._

_"Are you sure you don't want me to bite you?" Axel asked, his breath ghosting across the skin of Roxas' forearm, making him bite back a moan. _

_"Oh god," he murmured again. "Do it."_

_Axel grinned to himself. "Are you sure?" He kissed the wounds again, and Roxas moaned, a bit more loudly this time, his whole body shifting slightly as he wriggled closer to Axel. _

_"Please, please, just bite me," he whined. He hated sounding so pathetic, but it was worth it if Axel would just –_

He cried out in surprise as something his him across the face.

"Wake up, Roxas!" Sora shouted at him. "You gotta go to school, you lazy bum."

He growled and grabbed the pillow, before rolling over and pulling it over his head, all without opening his eyes.

"Don't go back to sleep, Roxy," Sora warned him, and the mattress dipped slightly as he sat down next to his brother and poked him in the ribs.

"Why not?" he mumbled from under the pillow.

Sora sighed and rolled his eyes. "Because you've got to go to school. You can't just dream your life away. And besides," he said, getting up off the bed and catching onto the hand that reached out to swat at him. "Naminé and Kairi are going to walk to school with your today. They missed you when you were ill."

Sora pulled on his arm, hard enough to jolt Roxas most of the way out of bed. He opened his eyes enough to glare at his brother, before he rolled the rest of the way out of bed

"Fine," he grumbled.

Sora watched him head towards the bathroom, and sighed. He got to his feet slowly and headed through the door and down the stairs towards the kitchen.

"Sora," his mother said when he entered the room. "How is he?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. He seems really grumpy, but then he's always been grumpy," he told her. "He just needs a distraction from it, I think. Given half the chance I'm sure he'd go back, no matter how much he shouts about it."

xxx

"It's easy," Pence told them a week later. "You just fold it this way, then lift these flaps and there you go!"

"Right," Kairi said slowly, looking at her folded piece of paper – it looked nothing like Pence's. After a moment she gave up and threw it at him, before she turned back to Riku and Roxas, who were sitting next to her in their loose circle under the tree in the park. "I'm glad you guys are feeling better. It was so rubbish that you both got ill at the same time. We're so glad you're better though."

Riku gave her a half smile, before he turned away.

"I'm just glad to get out of the house. I was going a bit crazy being stuck with Sora all the time, you know?"

"He can be a bit too much sometimes," Kairi agreed. "But still. It's nice to have you back again."

'Roxas.'

"What?" he said, looking over towards his other friends, who all stared back at him for a moment. "Did someone just say my name?"

Pence and Olette shared a look, as did Hayner and Naminé, before all of them shook their heads.

"Nope."

'Shit,' he thought to himself. 'Not again'. He sat up a little straighter and looked around – all the places with shadow where a vampire could be lurking. Nothing. He turned back to Naminé and opened his mouth to say something.

'Roxas.'

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Naminé asked as Roxas jumped suddenly, his whole body tense and on guard.

A flash of red behind the trees at the edge of the park caught his attention suddenly, and before he realised what was happening he was on his feet.

"Roxas?"

"I'll be right back," he promised, even as he trotted towards the trees, his eyes scanning around for any sign of the red haired vampire he knew was lurking back here.

A sense of peace and tranquillity washed over him suddenly, and he turned and found himself face to face – well, chest – with the same red haired vampire who had managed to niggle his way into his thoughts on a regular basis. He looked slightly ridiculous – he was wearing trousers, boots, a shirt and a jacket, as well as a scarf and a hat, which was a little bit too much on a warm April afternoon. His ridiculous red spikes of hair jutted out as even more irregular angles than usual from underneath the hat.

"Hey there, Roxas," he drawled, and Roxas felt his heart rate pick up. A flash of memory – pure, unadulterated pleasure coursing through his entire body – shot through him and he had to keep from shivering.

"Axel," he growled, anger breaking through the emotions he knew the non-human was forcing upon him. "What did you do to me?"

"I was hungry," he said, affecting a pout that surprisingly sad on his vulpine face. "And you smelled so good."

"So it's all my fault is it? What about all those dreams I've been having? Are they my fault too?"

The red haired vampire grinned at him. "Mostly, I think. Wanna come back to my place?"

"No," Roxas told him, before he turned away, too quick for Axel to grab him before he slipped back into the sunlight, where he was safe. He knew that if Axel pushed him hard enough he'd end up going with him – he'd dreamt about the moment he could barely remember when awake for nights now, each time waking up gasping for breath, his body still trembling from the sheer amount of physical sensations coursing through him.

"Come on, Roxie," he whined. "I'm hungry. And you know it felt good last time."

Roxas bristled. "I don't even know you. You basically hypnotised me into coming into your 'lair'," he said, wiggling his fingers in air quotes. "Then you drank my blood and left me in the middle of the street? No."

"I could just hypnotise you again. I could make you perfectly willing to go with me," Axel purred. The familiar feeling of the 'charm' settled over him, and he shook his head quickly, desperately trying to clear his thoughts before he became too relaxed to argue back properly.

"Don't push me, Axel," Roxas said in a low, dangerous voice. "You have no idea how much I want to go back with you. I just can't do it again."

"Roxas," he murmured, stepping out of the shadows and into the sunlight. The blond's eyes found Axel's face easily and his expression softened when their eyes met. "You can do it again. It'll be okay. I promise I won't hurt you."

"No," he said more firmly. "It doesn't matter if you hurt me or not. My family's been through enough of this, you know? There's a reason why this is a bad thing, why people hunt down monsters like you – don't touch me," he hissed as Axel reached out a hand towards him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you want it," Axel told him. "You need to stop thinking about your family - about other people for a moment. Think about what you want. You want it, don't you."

"Yes," Roxas said quickly, before he scowled – the effects of the charm had dissipated, and his head was feeling clearer than it had in days. "No. I don't."

For a moment they started at one another, saying nothing at all. Roxas sighed and dropped his head. "Yes. I do want it."

Roxas sighed slightly and stepped forwards to hug Axel around the waist, letting him drape one arm over his shoulder, the other hand drifting down to Roxas' forearm and gently dragging the sleeve of his thin jumper up over the almost healed wounds. Roxas shuddered slightly as the vampire's long, thin fingers brushed over them.

"Roxas!"

He jumped slightly, and looked around to see all of his friends under the tree looking at him, Naminé getting to her feet slowly.

"I'll be there in a minute," he called back, and Naminé sank back to the ground.

"More than anything," he said as he turned back to Axel. "I'd give you anything if you could make me feel like that again. But that doesn't make it right," he mumbled.

"Roxas," Axel purred. "I'm a vampire – do you think I care about what's right?"

Roxas scoffed and buried his face in Axel's t-shirt.

"Okay," he murmured into Axel's chest eventually. "I'd love to come back to your place."

"Awesome."

Roxas disentangled himself from the vampire and took him by the hand, leading him towards his group of friends to fetch his bag and coat.

"Roxas, are you okay? Who's this?" Naminé asked, sitting up slightly as he drew closer.

"I'm fine. This is Axel, by the way," Roxas told them as he leaned down to pick up his things. The red head gave the group of teens a broad smile, showing off his elongated canines.

"Vampire!"

"Roxas, what are you doing?" Hayner barked, leaping to his feet.

"Well," Axel started, drumming his fingers on his chin thoughtfully. "We were going to go back to my place and indulge in a little blood related foreplay, followed by some fairly epic sex, then cuddle for a bit, but if you have any better ideas, we'd love to hear them." He grinned widely at all of them, taking in their shocked expressions in delight. "Hey Roxie, we should get going before I fry. Pale complexion, you know how it is."

"Roxas, I warned you about this," Pence said, his face unusually serious. His eyes fell to Roxas' forearm, taking in the wounds, as well as the way that the vampire was gently running his hand over them. "He can control your mind and all that, you know."

"I know, Pence," Roxas said, smiling at his friend. "That just makes it better." He looked up at Axel as he swung his bag up onto his back. "Let's go."

"Later, guys."

"I told you so, Roxas!" Pence called after them.

* * *

So yeah. Please review. If you didn't like it, tell me why. If you did, tell me why! If you're indifferent, tell me and I'll give you cookies.

But yeah. Hope I didn't leave any half sentences in this one -.-


	2. Chapter 2

9 months. 9 months this took me. It's an _actual_ baby.

Anyway. Here it is. I edited the first chapter a little to make things flow better, but a 2nd chapter just bugged me. So here it is. There may be mistakes, and I will be editing when I can think of better ways to make this story happen.

But for now, here you go :3

* * *

Sora sighed and put down the phone. Riku had phoned him to tell him that Roxas had left with the vampire who'd bitten him the week before, Hayner and Kairi shouting loudly at one another in the background.

"He doesn't seem malicious," Riku had told him. "He just seemed to want to chew on Roxas' neck for a bit. He used the charm on all of us as well. Hayner spent a few minutes after he left talking nonsense because he was the closest to the vampire."

The brunet got to his feet and headed down towards the kitchen, where his mother was preparing something for dinner.

"That was Riku on the phone – Roxas is over at his house, but it's too close to sundown for him to leave now, so I'll go and fetch him in a bit," Sora told her.

"Okay, honey," she told him, reaching over to smooth his spiky hair down slightly. "Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes."

"Mama, you know I don't need to eat anymore," Sora reminded her. She smiled sadly at him, and he realised that he was doing the same.

"I know, baby," she murmured. "But I don't want you to feel left out because of what happened to you."

"Thanks, Mama. I'm gonna phone Kairi and see how she's doing. I'll be back in time for dinner."

"Okay, sweetheart," he hear her say as he left the room.

Sora flipped his phone open and dialled Roxas' number quickly. He lifted it to his ear in time to hear the first ring, and started up the stairs before his brother picked up.

"Hello?" Roxas said. He was slightly breathless, and a bare moment later he gasped.

"Oh god," Sora gasped. "You better not be having sex."

"_Get off me you idiot,_" Roxas hissed at someone on his end of the phone. "No, I'm not. Axel's just being a _jerk._"

"Roxas," he said, but there was a sharp smacking sound from Roxas' end and a cry of pain from someone that definitely was not his brother. "Roxas," he said more firmly. He moved towards his bedroom but hovered in the doorway waiting for his brother to reply.

"What, Sora?"

"I told Mum you were going to be at Riku's until this evening, but I'm going to come get you, okay?" His tone provided no room for an argument, and he heard Roxas sigh.

"Fine, I'll tell you- _get off of me you son of a bitch, I'm on the phone,_" he snapped suddenly. There was another slap in the background and Sora laughed slightly. "I'll send you a message with the address in a bit when we get there."

There was a sudden laugh from down the phone, but Sora ignored it. "You're still outside? Roxas, it's nearly sundown," Sora said, lowering his voice as he heard footsteps downstairs and his parent's muffled voices.

"Relax, Sora," Roxas mumbled back. "I've got Axel with me, he'll look after me."

"He's who I'm worried about."

"Look," Roxas said, then he hissed suddenly. Sora didn't want to know what was going on on the other end of the phone line. "How about we meet halfway between Axel's place and home, okay?" His words were melding together and his breathing was becoming frenetic. "I'll message you with a place, okay? I have to go-"

A long, smooth beep replaced his voice, and Sora sighed. He definitely didn't want to know what his brother was up to. He let the phone roll out of his hand and onto the bed, before he sank down onto the edge of it slowly, sighing.

His brother was officially an idiot.

Then again so was he. He was doing exactly the same thing with Riku. It was his fault Riku was ill at the moment – he hadn't realised just how much blood he'd taken until Riku had passed out beneath him. He had spent a good few minutes panicking, not knowing what to do before he realised that Riku was still breathing.

Still. Roxas was an idiot.

xxx

"You're such a jackass," Roxas hissed, throwing his phone at Axel. It nailed the vampire square in the middle of his forehead, but that didn't stop him from sniggering to himself. "That was my brother."

"You didn't have to answer it, you know," Axel snickered, watching Roxas stomp away from him with a fox-like grin plastered across his face. "You could have just let it go to voicemail or something."

"That would have been worse!" Roxas shouted back at him. He's managed to move a few feet before the vampire grabbed his wrist and steered him in the opposite direction.

"How, exactly, would that have been worse?" he purred as he aimed Roxas towards the slightly hidden door to his den.

"He would have come down here," Roxas snarled.

Axel opened the door and ushered Roxas in, before closing it behind him and making quick work of removing all of the extra clothes he had been wearing in order to go out in the sunlight.

"That's so adorable. Your big brother coming to your rescue," he snickered. "Coming to defend your honour. Poor little Roxas needs protecting."

Roxas scowled at him, but let Axel steer him through to the main room anyway, where he pushed the blond teen down onto the sofa and flitted away with a promise of being right back.

He leaned back into the sofa, reminded suddenly of his dreams and how he'd been to this place before but it seemed like so long ago and such a wonderful thing he was sure it had never happened. He could see a fine crack in the plaster of the ceiling, which he could vaguely remember gazing up at through half open eyes while trying to remember his own name.

The sound of shuffling feet had him looking away from the crack in the ceiling and around the room. A slate-haired vampire he could vaguely recall from his first 'visit' was leading a boy he knew was familiar from somewhere else by the wrist, pushing him down on the sofa, facing in Roxas' general direction, and sitting down beside him.

Without giving the blond boy a chance to settle, the vampire reached out and grasped his chin, forcing him to look at him.

"I can look for myself, you know," he whined, pushing the vampire's hand away. The slate haired man growled back, and immediately caught the human's chin again, forcing him to look at him once more, pulling him slightly closer.

"I like it this way," he growled. "Gives it more of a thrill."

From where he was sat, Roxas could see the blond's gaze sharpen as he looked at the vampire, before he sighed slightly and relaxed into the strong grasp on his chin.

"Just look at me," he purred. The change in his voice was noticeable – it had gone from a harsh, commanding tone to a smooth, velvet sound that sent a sudden shudder down Roxas' spine. The blond on the other sofa obviously noticed it as well, and his shoulders dropped noticeably and after a moment it seemed as though the only reason he was still sitting up was because of the hand grasping his chin. "That's good, right?"

The blond whimpered something that he didn't quite catch, and he could just see enough of the vampire's face to see him grinning slightly.

"Do you remember what we did last time?"

"Yes," the blond purred. He breathed in, then sighed heavily, more of the tension rolling out of his body. If Roxas didn't know any better he would have said that the other teen's body was devoid of bones by this point.

The blond blinked sluggishly, his eyes becoming less and less focused with each passing second.

"What did we do?" he asked. His grip on the blond's chin loosened, and he gently withdrew his hand until he was supporting the human with just one finger. "Tell me about what we did."

"We played a game," he murmured. For a moment he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again his face became almost entirely blank. As he sat there, Roxas felt a familiar sensation wash over him slowly – the charm. It wasn't the same as when he experienced it with Axel, he realised. This one was tinged with anticipation and made him feel the need to hold his breath as though something amazing was about to happen, as well as enforcing the feeling of calmness he'd been experiencing recently. He missed the start of what the other blond said, and instead just caught the tail end of his sentence.

"I had to ask for it. I needed it."

The vampire grinned more widely this time. "Needed what?"

"For you to kiss me," he murmured. "For you to bite me. For you to do anything you want to me."

Roxas sucked in a breath he didn't realise he needed as quietly as he could, watching intently as the vampire pushed the human's chin up enough to expose his neck, before he leaned in and did something that Roxas couldn't quite see but sounded incredible.

A hand on his shoulder startled him enough to blink and look around, a small noise something like a whine following it. He found himself right at the edge of his seat, looking up at Axel, who was wearing a rather amused grin.

"Alright, sunshine?"

For a few moments, Roxas blinked up at him, before nodding mutely.

"Like what you see?" he asked, leaning down and taking a seat on the sofa beside him. He reached out for the string on Roxas' hooded jumper, taking the end of it and undoing the knot.

Roxas's eyes flitted back over to where Zexion was licking spilled blood rather noisily from Demyx's neck.

"Yes," he admitted meekly.

Axel sank down beside him, one warm, slender hand running over the almost faded scars on his forearm from where he'd last bitten him, and he delighted in the way the kid squirmed against the sofa, biting his lip to keep from making any noise.

"Come here," Axel murmured, pushing Roxas' chin up with the very tip of his index finger. The kid's brilliantly blue eyes tracked down the vampire's arm, then back up again to his neck and finally up to his face.

"Kiss first," he purred, leaning down to hover less than an inch away from the blond, delighting in the way his tired eyes crossed and fought to stay open as he tried to keep sight of Axel's lips. He closed the short distance between them to nip gently at Roxas' lower lip, and was pleasantly surprised when his eyes slipped shut and he practically shuddered beneath him.

"Oh god," Roxas whispered, before he reopened his eyes slowly.

"Relax," the vampire murmured. "I haven't even done anything yet."

He leaned back down and kissed him gently. After a moment he pulled away and noted the extraordinary flush in his thrall's cheeks.

"Why are you blushing?"

Roxas opened his eyes, looking remarkably focussed for a moment.

"Why should I tell you?" he ground out, the colour on his cheeks becoming more pronounced.

"Either you can tell me yourself, or I can make you tell me," Axel purred, reaching out to push some stray hairs back from Roxas' forehead.

"Make me," he hissed, his eyes narrowing again, out of annoyance this time, rather than bliss.

"Of course," Axel smirked back. He stroked the smooth skin of Roxas' forehead gently with one thumb, and used the other hand to guide himself as he shuffled off the sofa so as he was kneeling in front of the boy. The kid was still glaring slightly at him, his beautiful blue eyes wary.

"Have you ever seen The Jungle Book?" Axel asked as he knelt in front of him, at eye level with him for once, not higher up as usual.

"Yeah, years ago. Why?" Roxas replied. He kept his eyes carefully on Axel's face, lest he make any sudden movements. He stiffened slightly as the redhead leaned forwards to claim another brief kiss, which again elicited a bright blush from the human.

"You can believe in me," Axel purred, bringing his hand down to lift Roxas' chin slightly so as they were looking eye to eye. "Trust in me."

It was cheesy, but it worked. The kid was remembering watching the film, the snake that had so easily captivated the boy and the panther, how easily they fell into his trap, and he was doing exactly the same thing to himself. The room around them ceased to exist, the whole world falling away save for Axel's overwhelmingly green eyes and his warm hand on Roxas' chin.

It really didn't help that from the other side of the room, a very satisfied Zexion was humming the song from the film as Demyx sat entranced beside him.

"Is it working?" Axel asked softly, tipping his head to one side. Roxas didn't answer, but followed suit so as he could carry on watching Axel's eyes carefully. "I guess so." He smirked and carried on tilting his head first one way, and then the next, trying not to laugh at the way the blond would just follow easily, without seeming to think about it.

"What are you thinking, Roxas?" he asked.

"Your eyes," was the reply. "So pretty."

Axel chuckled. "What made you so embarrassed earlier?"

That question caused the blankness in Roxas' eyes to dim a little, awareness filling the space quickly. Axel simply tilted his head the other way and thought to himself '_relax_', a thought that was quickly impressed onto his thrall's mind, and the blankness returned to Roxas' eyes.

"That was my first kiss," he mumbled out, blinking dazedly.

Axel chuckled again. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, kid."

Roxas nodded vacantly. "Nothing to be embarrassed about," he repeated, his voice airy and distant.

'_Kiss me_', Axel thought to himself, and he leaned forwards to meet Roxas halfway.

xxx

Sora scowled down at the phone in his hand. No message from Roxas yet. It was well past sundown, and no word yet from his brother.

He flipped his phone open again and punched in his brother's number, pressed the call button and lifted the phone to his ear.

"Yeah?" a voice said after a few rings.

"Who's this?" Sora asked. It was most definitely not Roxas and whoever it was sounded slightly breathless.

"Axel. Why, who's this?"

"This is Sora. Put my brother on the phone, right now," he growled as best he could.

"I would, but I think he passed out a few minutes ago. I'm waiting for him to come round," Axel purred down the phone, and Sora could practically hear the charm in his voice.

"What did you do to him?" Sora hissed.

"Nothing he didn't ask for," Axel replied. "Listen, he'll come around soon enough, then I'll straighten him out and bring him home. It'll be fine, big brother."

"No, don't bring him here. I'll meet you somewhere – Mountain Park. Do you know it?"

"Of course. When?"

"No later than an hour from now. Do you understand?"

"Sheesh," Axel murmured. "So bossy. We'll be there, don't worry."

With a click, the call was disconnected, and Sora scowled at his phone. He really didn't like the guy.

He threw the phone down on the bed and lay back. He had half an hour to waste, since Mountain Park was only a 20 minute walk from their house, and he would rather not be standing around in the middle of a park at night by himself, regardless of whether or not he was already a vampire.

It was just plain spooky up there at night without anyone in it.

He sighed, and rolled sideways in order to sit up. He got to his feet and headed down the stairs to where his mother was curled up on the sofa watching the news, slightly spaced out as she watched the story.

"Hey, Mama," Sora murmured as he sat down on the sofa next to her. She broke out of her reverie and smiled at him, before she opened her arms and let him snuggled up next to him.

"You okay, baby?" she asked as she pressed a kiss onto the crown of his head. He nodded and curled up next to her. "Good."

For a while they stayed like that, Sora curled up beside his mother, letting her comb his hair with her fingers as she watched the headlines scroll across the television screen.

xxx

"Tell me more about vampires," Roxas asked as he pulled up his jeans.

"What would you like to know?" Axel responded.

"Well, the news makes it seem like vampires are all out for our blood, and given half a chance they'd go on a rampage and drain everyone's blood."

Axel snorted. "And destroy our food supply? Morons."

"Tell me something that most people don't know then."

"Something most people don't know," he murmured. "Alright. We can't enter a home without being invited."

Roxas made a sound like a game show buzzer, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Wrong answer. We know that already."

"Once we've been invited in, we can slip through the cracks around the door to get in, so we don't have to use the door."

The human's eyes widened. "Really? That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, so if you invite me into your house, I could turn up whenever I liked and just slip through the tiny gaps beneath your door and drink all of your blood," Axel said, grinning widely at him. Roxas scowled as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

"Also, we can see our reflections. Anyone who says otherwise is just a moron."

"Oh. I thought you had an excuse for how stupid your hair looked, but I guess you look bad intentionally," Roxas said, smiling devilishly at him.

Axel snorted. "I look good and you know it."

"Tell me something else."

"Okay. Poppy seeds have a soporific effect on vampires. Make us all sleepy."

Roxas just raised an eyebrow at him. "You cannot be serious."

"It's true," Axel drawled as he turned Roxas in the direction of the door and nudged him forwards. "If you have any food with poppy seeds in it around the house, offer some to your dear vampire brother when you get the chance, make sure he get's a real good taste, and he'll be out like a light. Trust me."

"I don't know if I believe you or not. And besides, I don't think anyone in my family likes poppy seeds, you know."

"Fine. But it does work." He looked up at the clock on the wall. "We should get going. Don't want your knight in shining sneakers to get antsy with us if we're late. I kinda like my head attached, you know?"

Roxas scoffed, but headed towards the door anyway, picking up his bag and coat as they left.

xxx

They were late. How dare they be late?

Sora kicked the ground in frustration, scowling at the pebbles that overturned beneath his sneakers.

He'd been at the park for over 15 minutes now, and even though he had arrived there early, the two of them were still late. Ten minutes late.

He heard rustling in the bushes behind him and all of a sudden, Roxas came speeding out of the foliage towards him, breathless and pink in the face. He stumbled past Sora, his feet eventually catching on the slight step up to the bark-filled play area in the park. He squeaked out an expletive and was halfway to the floor already before a hand shot out to grab his collar.

"Careful, sunshine," Axel purred as he pulled Roxas back up to his feet. This earned him a swift slap on the arm from Roxas and a dirty glare from his brother. "You must be Sora."

"That's right. Axel, is it?" he asked. When Axel offered his hand, Sora blinked at it for a moment, before taking it and shaking it briefly.

"That's me," he drawled, giving a wide smile. Unlike Roxas who was bent double, trying to catch his breath, Axel was perfectly composed, standing up to his full (annoyingly tall) height beside the brothers, a faint smile on his thin lips.

"We need to talk," Sora told him sternly. He was surprised when Axel nodded.

"Let me just distract him," he said, nodding his head in Roxas' direction. For a moment Sora watched the strange man glare at the top of his brother's head, and after a moment, Roxas stood up and looked off in the other direction, searching for something in the distance.

"What was that?"

"Just making him see stars," Axel purred, and Sora felt distinctly uncomfortable.

"That's what I want to talk to you about. You really messed with him, you know."

"I know. It's kinda the point," Axel said, smirking widely.

"Why him, though?" Sora asked, keeping a careful eye on his brother, who was still gazing off into the distance absently. When he looked around, he found Axel doing the exact same thing.

"Come on, Sora. You can't tell me that some people out there smell so incredible that you want nothing more than to see if they taste just as good, right?" When Sora blushed, Axel grinned in an even more vulpine manner. "When you walk past them you have to keep from turning around and drinking them dry there and then. You know what I mean, right?"

Sora nodded. "I know. But why did you pick him? Aren't there other people that smell better than him out there?"

"He smells pretty amazing, and he tastes even better, so I'm pretty happy right now. Plus, he's really pretty," Axel said, giving Sora an incredibly cheesy grin.

"Do you really like him, or are you just messing with him?" Sora asked, watching the vampire's face carefully.

"I do like him. He's really feisty," Axel said, making strange motions with his hands that Sora didn't quite understand.

Sora sighed and looked back at his brother, who had since dropped to the floor to sit and look at the sky.

"You've really messed with his head you know. How did you do it so fast?"

Axel sputtered. "Fast? I was tracking him for days to get him used to the charm before I made a move, you know."

"Days? Wow, you are devoted," Sora mumbled. "Actually, that's kinda creepy. Have you been to our house?"

"Yeah, but only once. I couldn't exactly let him walk home alone in the state he was last week, could I? He was wasted," Axel crowed, remembering just how dazed his thrall had been – unable to properly formulate sentences or even keep his eyes open for more than a few minutes at a time. "I tracked him mostly at his school."

"Creep," Sora hissed.

For a few moments, they stood there, watching the sky.

"Come on, Sora," Axel said eventually. "You haven't asked me the important question."

Sora sighed, dropping his head, his hair rustling around his ears as he did so.

"Will you turn him?"

"There we go," Axel said, smiling widely. This one seemed vaguely genuine. "Yes. But not immediately. I like drinking from him too much to take it all at once, and he needs to have a life." Axel looked down at Sora carefully, taking in his uncomfortable expression. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, you know. It has to suck."

"Yeah, just a bit." He paused for a moment. "If you stopped doing this to him, would it go away, or would he be all jelly-brain around guys like us forever? I caught him watching me yesterday with this spaced out look on his face and it was really weird."

"If it doesn't happen regularly, he should go back to normal in about a month. I guess I hit him pretty hard with all the mind games, huh."

They both stood uncomfortably for a few moments longer before Sora clapped his hands together suddenly.

"Right. We should get home. Mama will be worried about us."

"Roxas," Axel called, and the blond turned towards them. "Lets get you home, okay?"

Roxas scowled. "I'm not a child, Axel. You don't need to mind me all the time, you know."

Axel laughed. "I know."

Sora smiled up at him, and together they set out for home.

xxx

They walked most of the way home in companionable silence, Sora a few steps ahead of Axel and Roxas. The vampire had his arm slung over Roxas' shoulders, but the blonde was trying to pretend like it wasn't there.

"My head feels like it's full of feathers," he said eventually. They were still 5 minutes from their house by foot, but their mother had called twice asking where they were.

"Want me to fix it?" Axel asked, looking down at him.

"S'kinda nice," he mumbled eventually. He stepped closer so as he was pressed up against Axel's torso, one of his hands coming up to grasp onto the vampire's thin sweater slightly.

"I think we should go it alone from here, Roxas," Sora said from in front of him. He looked up to see his brother's brilliantly blue eyes searching his face.

"Okay," he said, sighing as he stepped away from Axel.

"Hang on." The redhead reached out for Roxas's shoulder and turned him easily on the spot. "Look at me." It was difficult for him not to look – his eyes automatically sought out Axel's brilliantly green ones whenever he looked up into his face, and this time was no different. After a few seconds of staring up, instead of fatigue and complacency sinking over him, it began to lift, his mind becoming clearer than it had been all day.

"Thanks," he said eventually, before he turned out of his grasp and headed down the street to catch up with Sora.

xxx

"Oh my god, Roxas, stop sighing!" Sora snapped. "I swear to god, if you do it again I will tape your mouth shut."

Roxas scowled at him from his seat at his desk, ignoring the flickering light on the screen that meant Pence had sent him a new message. He'd been bugging Roxas all evening for information about vampires, and Roxas had been fobbing him off with excuses – I'm tired, I can't remember, I'm not sure.

"You're such a girl," Sora mumbled.

"This is coming from the boy reading Cosmo? Seriously?" Roxas deadpanned. It was Sora's turn to scowl back. "Leave me alone, Sora."

"I'm sorry, Mr Grumpy Gills. Just because you miss your boyfriend," he taunted. Roxas was seriously tempted to throw his laptop at is brother, but he had paid a lot of money for it, and Sora was just being awkward because he could be.

"If you went and visited _your_ boyfriend every once in a while and left me well enough alone, we wouldn't have this problem."

"I missed this, you know? The friendly banter, the kind words," he said, sarcasm dripping from his words. "You've been such a space case recently, Rox."

Roxas wasn't listening. Instead he was typing out a message about poppy seeds to Pence on his laptop, and had pulled his headphones down over his ears to block his brother out.

He didn't hear Sora rambling away from his place on the bed, nor did he hear the tapping on the window – soft at first, but quickly rising in volume as the tapper grew irritated.

He was about to insist to Pence that the poppy seed story was true when there was a tap on his shoulder.

"What, Sora?" he ground out. After a moment he pulled his headphones off and turned around.

It was most definitely not Sora that had touched his shoulder. He was heading out the door with a whisper of "I'll give you two some privacy" and a sly wink.

"Hey," Axel said.

"Hi," Roxas breathed back. "What are you doing here?"

Axel shrugged, and took a step back to sit down on the end of Sora's bed. "I realised there were some things I needed to ask you."

After a moment of the two of them staring at each other, Roxas leaned forwards expectantly. "Like what?"

"Like, are you okay? I mean, with this?"

Roxas sat back. He'd never heard the vampire so hesitant before. And he'd never had such a clear head when they'd been talking to each other before either.

"If I wasn't, would I have gone back with you today?"

"Yes," was the immediate answer.

"I don't think you understand, Axel. If I hadn't wanted to see you again I wouldn't have come looking for you in the park. If I'd wanted to stay away I would have stayed out in the sunlight with my friends so as you couldn't get to me, then come home and not invited you in." Roxas eyed him carefully, watching as those brilliant green eyes widened ever so slightly. "And if I hadn't wanted to be around you, I would have made it very clear by now."

"Why, though? Why are you okay with it? I don't understand that," Axel mumbled.

"That's easy. I like you."

"That's no reason to let me drink your blood and pretty much eat you every time we meet though."

"You're an idiot," Roxas told him. "I _like_ you. Like like."

"Oh," Axel said. Then, his eyes widened a little further. "Oh!"

"Do you get it?" The vampire nodded. "Good. I don't just let anyone kiss me, you know."

"I could tell," Axel purred, waggling his eyebrows at the human. "One more que-"

"If you don't kiss me within the next five seconds, I'm revoking your invitation," Roxas growled.

Axel was more than happy to oblige.

xxx

Axel snickered. "Watch this."

He headed over to the vaguely kitchen-like area of the room, reaching up into the cupboard to grab a container that he opened quickly, scooped up some of the contents, then shut back in the cupboard quickly. Axel then shuffled across the room, his hand clasped shut tight, beckoning Roxas closer as he approached Zexion.

He was sitting on another sofa with a book in one hand, the other drifting lazily through Demyx's hair. The blond was sleeping soundly, his head resting on Zexion's lap.

Axel got a little closer before he reached down to flick Zexion on the forehead, startling him into looking up from his book. He then quickly held out the hand with the biscuits to Zexion who first looked at it quizzically, then reached out to take one of the flat biscuits from Axel.

"Thanks," he said, popping the whole biscuit into his mouth and turning back to his book. He munched on the biscuit for a few moments, before he looked up at Axel quizzically.

"What?" he asked.

Axel smiled and waited. As the two of them watched, Zexion's grip on his book loosened and it dropped to the floor. After a moment or two, he yawned widely, then leaned back in the seat, suddenly fast asleep.

"Whoa," Roxas said. "How long does that last for?"

"Oh, about 20 minutes. Lets draw on him."

And, after waking Demyx, they did just that.

* * *

That bit at the end...sorry for that -.-


	3. Chapter 3

"How old are you?" Roxas asked one night, lounging on the huge bed that the vampires had bought after Roxas, Demyx and one of the other humans had complained, loudly, about waking up with sore backs and stiff necks in the mornings.

They had even written up a rota of who could use it and who had to settle for the couch. There wasn't much to do in the daytime when their undead companions were sleeping.

"What?" Axel asked, lifting his face from the bite marks on Roxas' leg that had just stopped bleeding, red smeared all over his face and all down his neck. "Why do you want to know?"

"I just do, okay," he grumbled. "We've been together for 4 years, and I know barely anything about you except your name and the fact that you squeal like a little girl when I pinch your butt."

"How old do you think I am?" Axel asked, and he wriggled his way up the bed in an incredibly awkward manner, eventually settling down next to Roxas.

"I dunno. I'm shit at guessing how old people are. I thought Mama's new boyfriend was 20-something and he's actually almost 40."

"Guess," Axel encouraged. Roxas scowled at him but thought about it anyway.

After a few moments, he said "I reckon you're 25."

"Flatterer," Axel said, feigning bashfulness. "I was 24 when I got bitten, so you're close. But that was over 30 years ago, so I'm closer to 60."

Roxas pulled a disgusted face and gave the vampire a playful shove in the shoulder. "Perverted old man."

Axel laughed and buried his face in the soft junction between Roxas' chin and shoulder, and for a few minutes they just lay there on the bed.

"I have to get going," Roxas said eventually. "Sora will kill me if I'm late again."

"Jeez," Axel sighed, rolling away from the blond. "You'd think that after 4 years that stick up his butt might have shrunk a little."

"Nope, he's still totally paranoid about you. Riku told me once that he thinks you keep my brain in a jar."

Axel snorted and stood, stretching out at tall as he could before he joined Roxas in the search for clothes among the general chaos of the shared room.

"I can't find my shirt," Roxas grumbled as he shimmied his way into his slim-fit jeans.

"I think it's in the kitchen," Axel mumbled, pulling a loose, dark green shirt over his head. He shook his head to let the crazy spikes to red hair fall back into place and then he followed Roxas out into the kitchen.

Roxas was only an inch or two taller at 22 than he had been at 18, and still quite scrawny. Well, Roxas called it scrawny, Axel called it lithe. Sora, in one of his more bastard-like moments, had called him a runt, despite being just as small as his brother. Roxas had been more than a little annoyed at the comment and had punched him in the face and been swiftly clipped around the back of the head by their mother, while Sora crowed victoriously from behind him, something about "instant karma".

"Sunrise is in 20 minutes. I'll walk you home," Axel told Roxas once he was dressed and had recovered his keys from between the cushions on the dilapidated sofa and his book bag from by the front door.

"You don't have to," Roxas murmured, leaning up to kiss him, and after a long moment he pulled away and looked down at the ground.

"It's fine. Let's go."

xxx

He didn't see the car. He saw Sora on the other side of the street, waving, then there were arms around his shoulders and a crunch of glass and that horrid stinging sensation you get when you fall down on gravel and skin your knee when you're a kid and go crying home to your mommy, except on his face and all down his arm and his chest hurt and all he could see was red.

He blinked a few times, but everything was still red and then Axel moved, rolling off of him with a groan and now Roxas was staring up at the sky, still dark but with pink blossoming up from the horizon. Someone shouted his name and all of a sudden Sora was there, his usually smiling face sad and for a moment, a weird moment disconnected from reality, Roxas wondered why.

"Ow," he said eventually, his vision blurring with tears. He could feel them as they slipped down his face and then a brief sting on the side of his face that he couldn't identify.

"Roxas," Sora cried. His face was pink, Roxas noted, and he was crying as well.

"What happened?"

"Car," Sora gasped. "Out of nowhere."

Roxas laughed weakly and anger flitted across Sora's face. "You shit," Sora sobbed, and Roxas' eyes pinched shut involuntarily as pain surged across his chest.

"Ow," he repeated, unable to think of other things to say. He could feel, in a detached, not at all his own body sort of way, his lungs burning for air and his foot twitching erratically. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, then there was a cold hand on his check and he opened his eyes to look back up at his brother.

"Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Call an ambulance, you fucking moron," he grumbled, watching as his brother sniffed hard and laughed himself.

"Someone already did," Sora told him. "You drew quite a crowd."

He tried to turn his head to look in the direction that Sora had cocked his head, but his body was refusing to listen.

"Good," he said, and for a moment he listened to the sound of his own breathing.

Sora scrambled away somewhere, and when he came back Roxas was still staring vacantly up at the sky as it lightened. He started to talk, saying things that Roxas couldn't understand or couldn't hear. It was getting so difficult to keep his eyes open and concentrate on what Sora was saying, so he just stared up at his big brother, looking at his sad smile and the tears that were dropping down onto his own face.

Eventually, he said his brother's name softly, and the brunet lifted a hand to his cheek.

"Am I gonna die?" he asked, and he noticed how his words ran together and his breathing hitched strangely.

Sora just stared at him, and after a moment his face softened. "Of course not, Roxas."

The way Sora started to cry before he'd even finished the sentence didn't fill him with any confidence whatsoever, and Roxas tried his best to glare, but it just made his face sting, and when he flinched the pain in rest of his body reminded him that it was still there.

"Tell me," Roxas gasped, his chest rising and falling rapidly, "how bad is it?"

"I'm so sorry," he said, and all of a sudden everything was dark and there was a sharp pain in his neck, and he was spiralling down into nothing.

xxx

Axel lay there and watched as Roxas tried desperately to breathe, barely moving and whimpering in pain as his brother talked softly to him. Just lay there and watched as his lover died in stages. Eventually Roxas said something and Sora smiled softly and Axel sat up slowly, brushing the dust and gravel off his hands, not really caring about the blood that seeped sluggishly from the large wound on his forearm.

"Tell me, how bad is it?" Roxas asked, and after Sora mumbled something back, he laid a hand over Roxas' eyes and leaned down, sharp fangs just visible in the early morning light.

"What are you doing?" Axel barked, just as Sora bit down on his little brother's neck and Roxas let out a strangled cry of pain, totally different to anything Axel had ever heard from him.

"Shit," he hissed, and he scrambled over, lifting his wrist up to his mouth to tear open a new wound beside the one that was closing up slowly. He spit out the blood that had pooled in his mouth, acrid and dead, and reached over the quivering spikes of Sora's hair to ease Roxas' mouth open as gently as he could, lowering his bleeding arm to his lips.

All too soon the wound began to dry up and he made quick work of biting into his other wrist.

Sora looked up eventually, his eyes still brimming with tears and blood streaked down his face.

"Will it work?" he asked, his voice weak and thin.

Axel looked at him, trying to keep his face impassive. "I have no idea."

Sora sniffed and just stared at him. "It has to work."

Axel looked down at Roxas, who had fallen still and silent. His legs were splayed out at odd angles to one another, and there were raw, bloody cuts on his face and arms from where they had slid across the tarmac of the road. Big, angry purple bruises were blooming across his chest and Axel stared down at them with a heavy feeling in his heart. Even if this did work, he would be in pain for a long time.

He could hear the wailing of ambulance sirens from not too far off, and he reached out and took Roxas' hand, wrapping his fingers around his skinny wrist, then he laid down beside him and closed his eyes. He could feel his lover's pulse becoming slower, and he lay there as he felt it grow weaker still, and for a while after it stopped and the ambulance eventually arrived and Roxas was pulled away from him he was content to just lie there and let the first light of the day fall upon him.

xxx

There were a lot of awkward questions and uncomfortable silences as Sora tried to explain to the hospital staff exactly what had happened – why both he and his brother were covered with blood without any gaping wounds, and why they couldn't declare him dead, not just yet.

Their mother burst into the ER crying and barely able to breath, clutching the fabric over her heart desperately as she searched for her sons, who she eventually found in a darkened room, her older son pale and edgy, but gloriously sentient, while her younger son lay on the hospital bed, for all intents and purposes dead.

"What happened?" she wailed, and Sora rushed around the bed to hug her.

"They were walking home and all of a sudden there was this car and it just plowed into them," Sora said tiredly. His face was vaguely pink in patches, and his eyes were bloodshot and watery, and he looked on the verge of either collapse or tears.

"My poor baby. Thank god you were there, darling," she said, stroking his hair down as soothingly as she could. "All we have to do now is wait, right?"

Sora sighed against her and he seemed to deflate a little in her arms. "I hope so, mama."

She stood there for a few more moments, holding him like she had when he was young and had fallen down and skinned his knee, and she waited for him to cry like he had as a child too.

They stayed at the hospital until the evening fell and there was still no sign of Roxas waking, and just before the sunset, a tall, slender boy with hair a little darker than Roxas' edged cautiously into the room, staying close to the wall. Sora's mother had left the room a few minutes before to find some food and some coffee for herself.

Sora looked up eventually and watched the blond carefully as he offered a weak smile and stepped a little closer.

"Who are you?" Sora asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes. He hadn't slept yet, and he had become vaguely nocturnal since being turned, and he should have been sound asleep by this time of day, but he couldn't bring himself to close his eyes for too long.

"My name is Demyx. I came from Axel's den," he said. He seemed to remember his manners all of a sudden, and he walked up to the chair where Sora was sat and thrust out his hand for him to shake. Sora caught a brief glimpse of bite marks around Demyx's arm before he pulled his hand away and tugged the sleeve of his shirt back down. "I came to see how Roxas is."

"No different than he was this morning," Sora told him, and then he sighed again.

"Zexion was talking to me about it," he whispered conspiratorially, dropping down to sit on the floor in front of Sora. "After midnight, if his spirit is strong enough, he'll come back to us. We just need to wait until then to see if he makes it."

The blond in front of him looked so serious and so convinced that Sora couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks, Demyx."

He nodded, and turned around a little to look at Roxas.

"He'll make it though," Demyx said, his voice sure. "He's far too stubborn to die."

Sora laughed. "That he is."

Demyx turned and looked towards the doorway, and Sora watched as he hopped to his feet and trotted out into the hallway, before he scurried back and sat back down in front of the brunet.

"They'll be here soon. It's past sunset," Demyx told him with a wide, vacant smile on his face.

"Who?" Sora asked.

Demyx shrugged and turned to look at the doorway, seemingly content to sit and stare at the empty doorway for a while.

It was about 20 minutes later when the hallway outside the hospital room fell into silence, eerie and unsettling compared to the sounds of shuffling feet and general business that had filled the rest of the day, even the quieter, early morning hour after they had first arrived.

A few moments passed before a group of people filed into the room, silent and pale in a way that put Sora on edge. They didn't acknowledge him, but instead filled up the empty space in the room. Sora looked around at them all as the last few passed through the doorway, counting up the number of them he saw.

In total, there were 12 of them, and they could have all passed for mortals, except that Sora knew without a doubt that they were the same as him. One of them, with slate coloured hair that fell forwards into his eyes crossed the room to help Demyx to his feet, then stepped back to the place he had vacated, the human standing beside him. Sora could see a familiar shock of red hair and he almost smiled.

"Why are you here?" Sora asked, getting to his feet slowly. The effects of sleep deprivation were slower to hit him than a human, but he was still young by vampire standards and he was definitely feeling it now. He felt shaky and weak, but he stood to face them nonetheless.

"We came for your brother," said a girl with vivid blonde hair. It was mostly plastered to her head except for two antenna-like strands that arched up and back down again. "He will be one of us if he makes it through."

"What?" he barked. The blonde just stared at him with a look of disapproval.

"He has the blood of our brother in him, so he is one of us now," she explained, her voice slow and dripping with disdain, as though she were talking to a child she despised.

"You can't just decide that for him," Sora cried. In the brief moment it took him to look down at the pale and impossibly still form of his brother, then back up at the group, the blonde vampire had crossed the room and was less than an inch from his face.

"It is not for any of us to decide," she hissed, her thin face suddenly twisted and angry. "You think I like living with these slobs? I only stay because I have to."

Sora tried not to laugh, but it was no use. The girl looked down at him in disgust once more, and then stepped away, leaving him to giggle to himself for a while.

"So," he said after a while, looking around at them all. "Now what?"

A tall, brown haired man raised his chin slightly, and said, "Now, we wait."

"Is there nothing we can do?"

The man shook his head, and Sora sighed. He sank down into his chair and pulled out his phone to check the time.

Instead of seeing the small clock that was usually on the face of the phone, he saw a list of the missed calls and new messages that he had ignored for the whole day.

"Shit," he hissed as he scrolled through the messages. There were some from Riku asking where he was, and some from Roxas' friends asking if he'd seen him today.

"Shit shit shit," he whispered again and quickly typed out a message to all of them telling them they were at the hospital and that they could come down if they wanted to, which he was sure they would. While all of their friends had moved away to schools in different parts of the country, they were all home for summer vacation, so they would be in the area. How had he forgotten to tell them?

"Sora?"

He looked up to see his mother moving between the assembled vampires in the room, clutching a paper bag and a paper cup of what he assumed was coffee.

"What's going on?" she asked in a hushed tone as she looked around at them all. "Who are these people?"

The only other human in the room stepped forwards and offered Sora's mother a large smile. "My name is Demyx," he told her, reaching for her hand. "We're here for Roxas."

The small blonde vampire flashed her a wicked smile, her delicate fangs catching the light.

"You're vampires?"

"I'm not," Demyx told her gently. "But they are."

"Why are you here though?" she asked. "Is there something you can do?"

"No," Demyx told her. "We just have to wait."

She sighed and sat down on the very edge of the bed. "So we just have to sit here and see if he ever wakes up again?"

The blond nodded and offered her a sympathetic half smile.

So they waited. Sora and his mother sat next to one another on sparsely padded seats the nurses had brought in that morning, hands held together between them as they checked the time every few minutes. The vampires all remained standing, but Demyx was content to sit down on the floor between Zexion and Marluxia.

At about half an hour until midnight, the vampires turned, almost as one, to the doorway and a few seconds later a group of young adults came running down the corridor towards the room, flushed and uncoordinated. The group of vampires split into two and parted for them to move through the room, but they barely noticed, instead rushing towards where their friend lay on the bed. Naminé, Kairi and Pence headed around to the other side of the bed, pale and shaking, while Olette, Hayner and Riku stood beside Sora, who had gotten to his feet once again.

"What happened?" Naminé cried. She was the first to get her voice back after seeing Roxas pale and still and broken.

"There was an accident," Sora mumbled. "He got hit by a car."

For a moment they all stood, looking around at each other, before Kairi asked what they had all been thinking.

"Is he dead?"

"Yes."

Naminé and Kairi wrapped their arms around one another but neither of them cried as Sora had expected them to.

"I don't get it," Hayner said eventually. "What are they all doing here?"

His disdain for vampires had not lessened, and he knew from seeing Axel standing by the door that that's what they all were.

"We attempted to turn him," the red haired vampire said, the first words he had spoken since they had arrived. "We won't know until after midnight if it has taken."

"You did what?" Hayner shouted, taking a step towards him.

"Would you rather he be left to die?" the blue haired vampire asked, his voice steely and cold.

'_Watch yourself, Hayner,_' Sora thought to himself, but it was no use.

"Better dead than one of you," he spat.

The vampires all smirked and looked down at Hayner with looks of derision and amusement.

"Alright," Riku snapped. "Out. Everybody out."

When no one moved, he fixed first his friends and then the vampires with a stony stare.

"Out," he growled.

The humans wandered out of the room slowly, Riku in the lead, and they were followed out by the vampires, who fell into line almost automatically. Sora followed them out and left his mother in the room alone, he looked up at Riku and sighed.

"Keep them in line?"

"Of course," Riku promised, and leaned down to kiss Sora on the forehead.

"Sora?" his mother called, and he reluctantly stepped away from his boyfriend. He heard his name again, but this time it wasn't a shout, it was a scream, and another accompanied it.

He dashed back into the room to see his mother standing beside the bed, her hands raised over her other son's writhing body, her son who was crying and bleeding.

"Roxas!"

He didn't seem to hear, but instead dissolved into tears, laying on his side and clutching his chest, breathing hard and fast.

"Roxas," Sora called again, reaching out to untangle one of his brother's hands form the front of his torn and dirty shirt. The brunet had refused to let them remove his clothes and replace them with a hospital gown, even though he was technically dead.

His younger brother's blue eyes opened, and all of a sudden Sora was back on the road in front of the battered car, the sun about to rise behind him, about to drain the blood out of him.

"It's okay, Roxas," he said as soothingly as he could, but it was lost over the sound of his pained sobs. "It's okay."

"It hurts," Roxas cried, and Sora noticed a small patch of blood on his pillow from the wound on his face that seemed to have reopened.

"What hurts?" their mother asked desperately.

"Everything," her son answered, his voice thin and halting.

"It'll be okay," Sora promised. "We're here."

Roxas closed his eyes again and turned his face into the pillow and wept.

xxx

"You have to go in there," Naminé told him fiercely, her blue eyes sharp and dangerous. "He needs you to be in there with him."

Axel didn't know why but this small, delicate little girl scared him a lot more than she should have. She seemed only half his size, but something about her presence scared him and he felt on edge around her.

"I can't," he told her in a hushed voice.

"And why not?"

"You wouldn't understand," he told her, and she glared at him again and he was almost sure he would explode soon if she didn't stop.

"I did that to him," Axel hissed. "I should have seen the car, and I should have done something to get him out of the way."

"It's not your fault," Naminé assured him, reaching out for his hand. "It was that stupid driver."

A strangled cry came from inside the hospital room, and Axel winced.

"I can't."

xxx

Larxene was standing right outside the main entrance to the hospital, a slender cigarette with a red filter clenched between the tips of her fingers. She didn't even turn to look when Axel sidled up beside her and reached over to take the cigarette from her. He took a deep drag from it, then passed it back to her. The smoke curled up into the air until it vanished against the dark sky.

"You're such a pussy," she purred, and he shot her a dirty glare. "Your little human is all sore and weepy and you're hiding out here. Coward."

"I can't go back in there, Larxene."

"Yes you can, you're just being a little bitch."

"I'm serious. I did that to him, I shouldn't be in there."

She snatched the cigarette back from him and dropped it to the ground and turned to face him.

"Listen," she hissed, placing the tip of one of her finely manicured nails on his chest. "He is _your_ human, so he is your responsibility. And he is hurt, and he needs someone to hold him. You need to be in there, because this is hard enough as it is without being injured as well."

Axel stared down at her before he sighed in defeat. "You're right." He walked back through the door, and just before it closed he looked at her and said, "Geez, Larxene, when did you get so soft?"

He wandered back through the corridors and towards the room tucked away at the back of the hospital, and worked his way through the surprisingly large crowd waiting outside the door.

It pained him to hear Roxas crying like that, and despite every instinct in him telling him to run far away, he crossed over to the bed and after Sora looked at him warily, he knelt down so as he was at eye level with Roxas.

Axel reached out gently and pushed some stray hairs out of his face.

Roxas looked over at him curiously, his breathing easing out a little, and Axel smiled a little.

"Hey," he whispered, and Roxas sputtered unattractively right in his face. He grinned widely, and Roxas attempted to do the same, but instead set off a fresh wave of tears, which made Axel snicker slightly.

He clambered up onto the bed next to him, totally unconcerned with the fact that his feet were dangling off the end.

"It's okay," he murmured, and Roxas buried his face into the vampire's shirt. He kissed the top of Roxas' head delicately, and wrapped his arms around him as best he could without jostling him too much, and they lay there, together, until Roxas cried himself to sleep.

xxx

This is part 1 of the 2 part finale of Thrall. The next part will detail Roxas coming to terms with his new vampire-y nature :)

Let me know what you think :3


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